Ten stocks soared by double digits on Wednesday, outperforming a lackluster market performance, as investors took path from a flurry of strong corporate earnings and rating upgrades, among others. Of the 10 firms, five surged to new record highs.
On Wall Street, only the Dow Jones and Nasdaq registered gains, up 0.02 percent and 0.17 percent, respectively. The S&P 500 dipped by 0.01 percent.
In this article, we spotlight the 10 top-performing stocks on Wednesday and detail the reasons behind their gains.
To come up with the list, we focused exclusively on stocks with a $2 billion market capitalization and 5 million shares in trading volume.
The New York Stock Exchange building. Photo by Дмитрий Трепольский on Pexels
10. Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC)
Western Digital rallied to a new all-time high on Wednesday, as investors loaded portfolios ahead of its earnings performance, with optimism fueled by strong results from one of its largest competitors.
At intra-day trading, the stock jumped to its highest price of $284 before trimming gains to finish the session just up by 10.79 percent at $279.70 apiece.
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) is set to announce financial and operating highlights for the second quarter of fiscal year 2026 after market close tomorrow, January 29. A conference call will be held to discuss the results.
For the said period, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) earlier announced expectations of $2.9 billion in revenues, plus or minus $100 million, with diluted earnings per share of $1.88, plus or minus $0.15.
Revenues were projected to be driven by data center demand, and improved profitability led by the adoption of high-capacity drives.
Also on Tuesday, February 3, Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) will hold an Innovation Day in New York to highlight key innovations designed to support the growing demand for data storage in the AI-driven data economy.
Meanwhile, the company on Tuesday earned a 10.4 percent higher price target from investment firm Mizuho, at $265 versus $240, while reaffirming an “outperform” rating.
9. Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO)
Oklo grew its share prices by 10.70 percent on Wednesday to finish at $94.39 apiece, as investors mirrored the rally in nuclear stocks following the Department of Energy’s (DOE) announcement of a new initiative aimed at developing the country’s nuclear supply chain.
Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) rallied alongside its nuclear counterparts after the DOE asked states to host the “Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses,” which would support activities across the nuclear fuel lifecycle, including recycling used fuel.
“Unleashing the next American nuclear renaissance will drive innovation, fuel economic growth, and create good-paying American jobs while delivering the affordable, reliable, and secure energy America needs to power its future,” said Energy Secretary Chris Wright.
In other developments, Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) rode the rally in artificial intelligence stocks, following AI and semiconductor companies’ billion-dollar investments in the sector.
For energy firms such as Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO), any further acceleration in AI and data centers spells good news as these would prop up demand in power, as well as future profit margins.
Oklo Inc. (NYSE:OKLO) remains a pre-revenue company and is currently underway with the development of its nuclear reactors called Aurora powerhouses.
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